Author Archives: Gary Grado

Panelists of a Common Core symposium played to a full house in which there were lots of murmured snide remarks and an occasional cat-call between raucous applause Wednesday in the Arizona Senate building, demonstrating how charged the issue of the state’s learning standards is.

The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission and several lawyers are laying the groundwork for a database to keep track of people who are under court-ordered mental-health treatment, a tool for police and judges.

Stagnant salaries and diminished retirement benefits keep private attorneys from joining Arizona’s bench, which is becoming unbalanced by increasing numbers of former government lawyers, said a lobbyist for Arizona judges.

A small group of lobbyists with Husk Partners met in an office in 2009 at the firm as allegations of a Fiesta Bowl scandal involving illegal political contributions swirled.

Lobbyists John MacDonald, Dana Paschke and Dean Miller made a pact of sorts as they looked over the statute outlawing reimbursement of contributions, according to a search warrant affidavit that provides details of an investigation into the firm’s recently indicted head, Gary Husk.

Arizona tries to conceal identity of firm that makes chemical for lethal injections

Masks are synonymous with executioners. So in keeping with that tradition, the Arizona Department of Corrections tried to follow other states and extend anonymity to the company that makes the chemical used in lethal injections.

A federal judge in Phoenix on Tuesday certified a class action lawsuit alleging securities fraud against First Solar and its executives, a company that is selling a Mesa plant that Gov. Jan Brewer once hoped would be a shining example of solar investment.